Days before New North End residents hope to force a city-wide vote on the North Avenue Pilot Project, a task force charged with selling the initiative to voters launched a new awareness campaign from City Hall.

"Our goal was to help residents make more informed decisions as we describe how the pilot will make the avenue safer and more accessible," task force member Rich Nadworny said.

A bevy opponents hope to derail the project before city planners can begin their study. They plan to submit a petition to City Hall to make a yes-or-no question on the pilot project part of the Town Meeting Day ballot.

The North Avenue Pilot Project, approved by city councilors in 2014, will make several temporary changes to the street city planners believe will improve traffic flow and safety. The changes include separate bike lanes, new crosswalks and a turning lane. To improve safety and reduce speeding, the city will change North Avenue from four vehicle lanes to three.

City planner Nicole Losch said the Department of Public Works plans to begin portions of the pilot when the weather warms.

For three years, the pilot project has deeply divided the suburban neighborhood, which houses about a quarter of Burlington's 42,000 residents. Supporters see a new North Avenue as key to promoting walking and bicycling, as well as attracting young families to the New North End. Detractors believe the project will make existing traffic congestion worse.

To promote the project, the task force created a website — www.AvenueForEveryone.com — and distributed flyers throughout the neighborhood seeking support. A grant from AARP Vermont helped the task force, which receives no city funds, produce the literature.

Members joined Mayor Miro Weinberger and New North End councilor Dave Hartnett at City Hall on Tuesday morning to promote the public awareness campaign.

Steve Crafts, a business owner and task force member, said the main drawback to the neighborhood is unsafe traffic patterns.

"It's a shame so many conversations about the New North End begin with an apology about North Avenue," Crafts said. "The New North End deserves a safer North Ave."

The mayor said North Avenue is prone to accidents and said he observed a crash just last week.

"There's a pattern here," Weinberger said. "We can change that through better design."

Weinberger acknowledged the controversy the pilot project has generated, but encouraged residents to sincerely evaluate the project before forming an opinion.

Hartnett, who like his fellow New North End councilors Kurt Wright and Tom Ayres must tread lightly in front of their divided constituencies, said he has concerns about whether the pilot will be a success. Hartnett said he voted to approve the pilot project because he wants infrastructure decisions to be made based on hard data rather than perceptions.

"If we don't put the pilot forward, we'll never know," Hartnett said.

Nadworny, who champions the project, said when task force members explain the pilot to skeptical neighbors, an "overwhelming majority" of residents support the plan.

Buy Photo

Karen Rowell opposes a proposal to reconfigure North Avenue in Burlington. She is seen in December holding a petition with signatures of people who also oppose the proposal.(Photo: GLENN RUSSELL/FREE PRESS)

New North End resident Karen Rowell, a fervent opponent of the pilot project, said she fails to understand how Nadworny and the task force could make such a statement.

"That's completely not true," Rowell said. "I guarantee you he doesn't have one shred of data that backs up that statement."

A microcosm of the larger dispute between neighbors along the avenue, Nadworny and Rowell have traded barbs on Twitter over the pilot project. Each has accused the other faction of spreading misinformation, bullying and stealing yard signs.

Distrustful of City Hall, Rowell and other neighborhood residents have drafted a petition to include the pilot project on the city's Town Meeting Day ballot. If a majority of residents vote against the project in a non-binding vote, Rowell hopes, city planners will be persuaded to abandon the pilot.

Petitions need to contain the signatures of 5 percent of city voters, verified by the city attorney.

Rowell declined to say how many signatures the petition has, but said opponents are "very close" to eclipsing the threshold needed to get on the ballot. For an earlier petition against the pilot, Rowell said she secured signatures of 925 opponents.

Rowell said opponents plan to deliver the ballot-item petition to City Hall on Thursday.

Correction: An earlier version of this story stated the pilot project would limit North Avenue from four vehicle lanes to two. The project will include three vehicle lanes: two travel lanes, plus a turning lane.